1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses and methods consistent with the present invention relate to a home network, and more particularly, to a method of handling a universal plug and play (UPnP) control request in a UPnP control point.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a home network is a private network based on an Internet Protocol (IP), and connects any type of a Personal Computer (PC) used at home and various devices, such as intelligent products and wireless devices to one network, and controls that network via a common virtual computing environment called middleware.
Middleware enables communication between various digital devices by connecting the digital devices in a peer-to-peer method. Examples of middleware include Home AV Interoperability (HAVI), a Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) control device, a Java Intelligent Network Infrastructure (JINI), a Home Wide Web (HWW), etc.
It has become easier to install and establish peripheral devices of a PC after a Plug and Play (PnP) function is added to a current operating system. A UPnP expands such a convenient function to an entire network based on an Internet standard technique, such as a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and an Extensible Markup Language (XML), and enables network devices, such as home appliances, network printers, and Internet gates to perform networking, specifically home networking.
A UPnP network includes a UPnP Control Device (CD), which is connected to and controlled by an IP based home network, and a UPnP Control Point (CP), which controls the UPnP CD. The UPnP CD and the UPnP CP communicate with each other by using a UPnP protocol stack structure including IPs, such as TCP/IP and HTTP, and techniques, such as XML and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). The UPnP CP controls the UPnP CD by transmitting a UPnP control request to the UPnP CD.
However, if the UPnP CD breaks down or leaves a network, the UPnP CP cannot transmit the UPnP control request to the UPnP CD. Accordingly, the UPnP control request is not received, and service cannot be provided to a user.